1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressed water supply system and a supply device for a dental unit-chair. More particularly, it relates to a compressed water supply system and a compressed water supply device for a dental unit-chair which is capable of purifying and providing continuously the purified and compressed water to a medical instrument installed on the dental unit-chair, maintaining a given level of pressure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In case that a high speed rotation or pressure jet is required in medical instruments such as dental unit-chairs, the compressed air supplied from an air compressor is used. A contra-angle handpiece of dental surgery rotates a finishing bur at high speed (about several thousands or several ten thousands revolutions per minute) by using the compressed air, and a three-way syringe jets out the compressed air and the compressed water to clean a required portion of a human body.
The above contra-angle handpiece uses the compressed water of the same pressure level to cool the friction heat, generated from the finishing bur rotating at high speed, and to remove remainders. This contra-angle handpiece or three-way syringe is provided to a medical unit-chair on which a patient sits or lies. Particularly, a dental unit-chair also has an oral washstand on which a patient can gargle with the water provided from a compressed water supply system.
According to the conventional art, the compressed water is provided by a compressor supplying compressed air. In other words, in the compressed water supply system a given amount of water is held in a storage tank and a part of the compressed air jet out from the compressor is supplied to the storage tank's upper portion. The water in the storage tank is jet out by a given level of pressure of the compressed air.
According to the conventional compressed water supply system, since the water in the storage tank becomes compressed water by the compressed air, if the water in the storage tank is all consumed, the compressed water can be supplied by refilling the storage tank, and the compressor should be operated whenever using the compressed water, thus increasing the power consumption, damaging the components, and reducing the life of the compressor.
In addition, the supply of the compressed water may be cut off during treatment, and in this occasion, the trouble is that the treatment cannot be restarted until the water fills in the storage tank. Since the compressed air is provided to the storage tank without using any air purifying device, the water and the air may be polluted with germs, and a portion to be treated may be infected. Even if the purified water is used, the dust in the air contaminates the water in the storage tank, thus propagating the germs enormously.
When using the water not purified as the compressed water, the dust and dirt in the water may be inserted into a small gap of the precise medical instrument such as the contra-angle handpiece, which damages the medical instrument and increases the consumption of components. If the dust and dirt cause damage to the medical instrument during treatment, the treatment cannot be restarted until the instrument is repaired.
In addition, since the temperature of the water provided to the oral washstand for the dental unit-chair is low, a patient may feel very chilly during gargling after treatment. Therefore, there is a conventional art with a small heater provided to a compressed water supply tube connecting the compressed water supply system to the oral washstand, thus supplying the hot water. However, it takes time to heat the water passing the compressed water supply tube.